


Encounters

by supremegreendragon



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: First Meetings, Gen, Kid Bruce, One-Shot, Possible attempted kidnapping, Pre-Canon, teen joker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-12
Updated: 2020-03-12
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:40:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23120389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/supremegreendragon/pseuds/supremegreendragon
Summary: A what-if scenario about how the Joker and Batman could've met.
Relationships: Joker (DCU) & Bruce Wayne
Comments: 7
Kudos: 49





	Encounters

The play area at school was nearly the size of a football stadium. The wealthy didn’t consider anything to be too good for their children. They spent a small fortune to make sure the area had the most up to date playsets. A sturdy iron fence that could keep out even a stray cat surrounded them. The greenery was trimmed every week, and not a single blade of grass was out of place.

On days like this, the loner Bruce would normally be eating by his favorite tree, far away from any of the other children. But he couldn’t today. For today, someone else was there --Someone who shouldn’t be in this playground.

It was a teenage boy dressed in an old beaten-up jacket. He rested the back of his head against the bark of the tree. His eyes were closed tightly and even squinted as if he was trying to keep the sunlight from soaking through. He was too old to be in this school. And by the way he was dressed, he probably didn’t have a sibling attending here either.

Whoever the teen was, he had managed to get through both the gate and the guards who liked to patrol the area. That was impressive.

Bruce stared at him for some time, trying to process what he was seeing. He wasn’t scared, but rather very curious. Every day up until now his life had been the same. So, seeing something this unusual piqued his interest. He didn’t know if the teen was aware of his presence or not. To be safe, Bruce approached very slowly.

“Hello?” he asked softly out of consideration. It seemed like the teen might’ve had a headache.

The teen opened his green eyes wide. The eyes shot in Bruce’s direction like lasers, trailing down until they latched onto Bruce’s lunchbox. It had Alfred’s cooking inside. Meanwhile, the outside was decorated in a Gray Ghost print, Bruce’s favorite superhero on tv.

The teen’s lips curled into a wide grin.

“Hey, pal.”

Bruce frowned, “Who are you?”

“I’m your best friend,” the teen said so nonchalantly. As if he was just talking about the weather.

“I don’t know you.”

Bruce felt like he should be afraid of the strange teen, or at the very least, unnerved. The way the teen smiled at him was so strange. And he stared at Bruce like a hungry lion. Instead of being scared, however, Bruce was interested. This teen was like a fascinating subject that Bruce couldn’t wait to dissect. The guy suddenly tsked at him.

“Don’t you know you shouldn’t talk to strangers?”

“You just said we were friends,” Bruce pointed out. Could this man be on some sort of substance? Bruce’s father told him about the dangers of drugs. He told him that it made people act very strange, much like this teen was right now. It would certainly explain the teen’s odd behavior.

“Eh….it was a joke kid,” he tried to wave off.

But Bruce wouldn’t let him wave it off, “Jokes are supposed to be funny.”

For a moment, the teen looked angry. Then the anger left as quickly as it came. The teen continued to smile with shiny teeth, only this time it looked more like a sneer.

“Tough crowd,” he commented, gesturing to Bruce’s lunchbox, “If you’re not hungry---”

“What’s your name?”

“Give me your food and then I’ll tell you.”

Bruce handed him his lunch. He wasn’t hungry anyway. The man scarfed down the food like he hadn’t eaten in days. Bruce stood by awkwardly and waited for him to finish. It didn’t take the teen long to devour every crumb of Alfred’s five-star meal.

Satisfied, the man licked the almond butter residue off his lips. Alfred would’ve fainted from his lack of table manners.

“What’s your name?” Bruce repeated.

“Call me Jack.”

“That’s your real name?”

The teen chuckled darkly, “Why do you care so much, kid?”

Bruce honestly didn’t know. He didn’t know why he hadn’t gone back to the building by now. Or why he didn’t tell the guards about this teenager. Maybe he had grown so bored with his day to day life that he felt this was all fascinating. Too fascinating to ruin.

He shrugged his shoulders and said nothing else. The teen inspected him once more, before continuing.

“You know, rich people like you are never nice to people like me. What’s your angle?”

“I don’t have one.”

“Kind,” the teenager murmured to himself, “And not scared of me either. You’re one in a million, kid. I’ll take you home with me.”

“Huh?” Bruce backed away. Now he felt the terror that he should’ve been feeling from the very start. The teenager crept closer. He smiled in a way that was super scary. Bruce wondered if he looked like that before.

“I bet you’d make a lovely pet. My little rich ankle-biter. I’ll take you to a nice cage and feed you every night. Unless I forget, of course. I had a pet bird I forgot to feed once. It didn’t live long.”

“Bruce!” someone called out. Bruce turned to see his teacher. Then he turned back but the teenager was gone. He was quick. Bruce gladly went by his teacher’s side but didn’t tell her what he saw. He had a feeling she wouldn’t believe him.

Bruce had spent the next few days looking over his shoulder, but he never saw him again.

* * *

**Present Day**

Batman barreled through the roof of where he knew the Joker would be. He landed right in front of the Joker, who was sitting in a chair with his back toward him. The Joker didn’t so much as flinch, let alone turn around to face him.

Batman had his cuffs ready. He braced himself. Was this going to be one of those very rare moments where the Joker came quietly?

The Joker looked to be in his more somber moods. He held something in his hands, sighing as if reminiscing about something. Batman arched an eyebrow. It was a Gray Ghost lunchbox. That was odd, seeing as how Batman used to have one as a child, before he lost it.

“You’re coming with me,” he spoke gruffly. It was his authoritarian voice that few dared to argue with.

“Fine fine, Mr. Grumpy. Can’t even leave an old clown to his memories.”

Was that lunchbox one that Joker used as a child? Joker was a relentless liar that spewed out so many false tales to his therapists, no one knew what his past was truly like. Could this be Batman’s first glimpse into something valid? Or was it just another false lead?

They stayed in that room in silence. Joker sighed and drew the lunchbox close to his chest. Then he finally looked at his nemesis.

“This belonged to a friend of mine. He was my best friend, even though we only spoke a few words with each other. I knew it was fate. And…. I liked him. And you know what happens when I like something, right Bats? I take it. Usually. I was going to take him, but then….I didn’t. I don’t know why. Maybe I knew if I’d left him alone, he’d grow up to be more interesting than I could’ve ever imagined,” Joker turned a sinister smile up at him, “You understand. Don’t you?”

Batman narrowed his eyes. Without saying anything, he cuffed the Joker’s hands together, then dragged him off the chair. Joker let him drag him to the Batmobile.

“I could’ve killed that kid at any time. You understand, right? I could’ve. But I didn’t. I just want you to know that I _could’ve.”_

“I believe you,” Batman said without emotion. And truly, he did believe him.


End file.
